Novell ZENworks Application Virtualization 7.1 Administration Guide

Novell ZENworks Application Virtualization

Table of Contents

1. Legal Notices 1

1.1. Disclaimer 2

1.2. Trademarks 3

2. Overview 4

2.1. Overview 5

2.2. What is a virtual application? 6

2.3. ZENworks virtual application usage scenarios 7

2.4. Do ZENworks virtual applications require any device drivers? 8

2.5. How is application virtualization different from hardware virtualization? 9

2.6. What platforms are supported? 10

2.7. How is application virtualization different from application streaming? 11

2.8. What applications can be virtualized using ZENworks Application

Virtualization?

12

2.9. System requirements 13

3. Getting Started 14

3.1. Getting Started 15

3.2. System requirements 16

3.3. Control panel overview 17

3.4. Creating virtual applications 18

3.5. Creating your first virtual application 19

3.6. Manually configuring a simple virtual application 20

3.7. Adding runtimes and components 21

3.8. Loading and saving configurations 22

4. Configuring Virtual Applications 23

4.1. Configuring virtual applications 24

4.2. Snapshotting applications 25-26

4.3. Specifying a startup file 27

4.4. Specifying multiple startup files (Jukeboxing) 28

Novell ZENworks Application Virtualization

4.5. Editing the virtual filesystem 29

4.6. Editing the virtual registry 31

4.7. Creating and using shared virtual components 32

5. Virtual Application Customization 33

5.1. Virtual application customization 34

5.2. Selecting a project type 35

5.3. Customizing executable metadata 36

5.4. Adding a startup image 37

5.5. Process configuration options 38-39

5.6. Configuring the sandbox location 40

5.7. Virtual services 41

5.8. Internet Explorer 6 emulation mode 42

5.9. Sandbox merge 43

5.10. Application expiration 44

6. Building MSI Setup Packages 45

6.1. Building MSI setup packages 46

6.2. Configuring package information 47-48

6.3. Creating desktop and Start Menu shortcuts 49

6.4. Creating file associations 50

7. Deploying Virtual Applications 51

7.1. Registering virtual applications in the Windows shell 52-53

7.2. Sandbox management 54

7.3. Deploying in Active Directory environments 55-56

7.4. Deploying virtual applications using MSI setup packages 57

7.5. Deploying virtual applications using Microsoft TS RemoteApp 58

7.6. Deploying virtual applications to ZENworks Configuration Management 59-60

7.7. Deploying using the Publish to USB feature 61

8. Advanced Topics 62

8.1. Customizing the ZENworks Application Virtualization interface 63

8.2. Quick snapshot mode 64

Novell ZENworks Application Virtualization

8.3. Well-known root folder variables 65-66

8.4. Building from the command line 67

8.5. Importing configurations from external tools 68

8.6. XAppl file format 69-77

9. Troubleshooting 78

9.1. Troubleshooting 79

9.2. Problems accessing Internet-based resources 80

9.3. Generating diagnostic-mode virtual applications 81

Novell ZENworks Application Virtualization

1

Legal Notices

Novell ZENworks Application Virtualization

1

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, CODE SYSTEMS CORPORATION PROVIDES THIS PRODUCT AS IS

AND WITH ALL FAULTS,

AND DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES AND CONDITIONS, EITHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY,

INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF MERCHANTABILITY, OF FITNESS FOR A

PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OF ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS, OF RESULTS, AND OF LACK OF NEGLIGENCE, ALL WITH REGARD TO THIS

PRODUCT. THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY OF OR ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF THIS PRODUCT REMAINS WITH YOU.

THIS PRODUCT MAY CONTAIN TECHNOLOGICAL DEFECTS AND OMISSIONS, TYPOGRAPHIC ERRORS, AND TECHNICAL INACCURACIES.

CODE SYSTEMS CORPORATION MAY MODIFY THIS PRODUCT AT ANY TIME.

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, IN NO EVENT SHALL CODE SYSTEMS CORPORATION BE LIABLE FOR

ANY

SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES WHATSOEVER (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, DAMAGES

FOR LOSS OF PROFITS OR CONFIDENTIAL OR OTHER INFORMATION, FOR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, FOR PERSONAL INJURY, FOR

LOSS OF PRIVACY, FOR FAILURE TO MEET ANY DUTY INCLUDING OF GOOD FAITH OR OF REASONABLE CARE, FOR NEGLIGENCE, AND

FOR ANY OTHER PECUNIARY OR OTHER LOSS WHATSOEVER) ARISING OUT OF OR IN ANY WAY RELATED TO THE USE OF OR

INABILITY TO USE THIS PRODUCT, THE PROVISION OF OR FAILURE TO PROVIDE SUPPORT SERVICES, OR OTHERWISE IN

CONNECTION WITH ANY ASPECT OF THIS PRODUCT, EVEN IN THE EVENT OF THE FAULT, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), STRICT

LIABILITY, BREACH OF CONTRACT OR BREACH OF WARRANTY OF CODE SYSTEMS CORPORATION, AND EVEN IF CODE SYSTEMS

CORPORATION HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

CODE SYSTEMS CORPORATION’S CUMULATIVE LIABILITY TO YOU OR ANY OTHER PARTY FOR ANY LOSS OF DAMAGES RESULTING

FROM ANY CLAIMS, DEMANDS, OR ACTIONS ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THIS PRODUCT SHALL NOT EXCEED THE LARGER OF

THE LICENSE FEE PAID TO CODE SYSTEMS CORPORATION FOR THE USE OF THIS PRODUCT AND U.S. $5.00.

1.1

Disclaimer

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ZENworks Application Virtualization, ZENworks Application Virtualization Fox, ZENworks Application

Virtualization Postbuild, and ZENworks Application Virtualization are trademarks and/or registered

trademarks of Code Systems Corporation.

ZENworks Application Virtualization is a trademark of Novell, Inc.

ThinApp is a trademark of VMware, Inc.

Microsoft, Windows, .NET, and .NET Framework are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.

All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

1.2

Trademarks

Novell ZENworks Application Virtualization

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2

Overview

Novell ZENworks Application Virtualization

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Thank you for using Novell ZENworks Application Virtualization!

This product will allow you to convert your Windows, .NET, Java, Flash, Shockwave, or other Windows-

compatible application into a self-contained virtual application which runs instantly on end-user devices. Unlike

traditional deployment methods, virtual applications do not require separate setup steps for external components

and runtimes, reboots, or administrative privileges, and are isolated from other system applications, preventing

DLL conflicts and other deployment nightmares.

This guide explains how to use Novell ZENworks Application Virtualization to create your own virtual applications

and begin enjoying the benefits of this superior next-generation deployment technology.

2.1

Overview

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A

virtual application is a virtual machine image pre-configured with all of the files, registry data, settings,

components, runtimes, and other dependencies required for a specific application to execute immediately. Virtual

applications allow application publishers and IT administrators to significantly reduce the costs and complexity

associated with development, setup, configuration, deployment, and maintenance of software applications.

For example, a publisher of an application based on the Microsoft .NET Framework or Java runtime engine might

create a virtual application combining the application with the required runtime engine. Using this virtual

application, an end-user can run the application immediately, even if the user has not installed the required

runtime engine, or has an incompatible runtime engine installed. Note that this has both improved the user

experience and reduced test and support complexity associated with deploying the application.

Furthermore, because virtual applications are isolated execution environments, it is possible to concurrently

execute multiple applications which would otherwise interfere with one another. For example, applications which

overwrite system DLLs or require different runtime engine versions can all run simultaneously on a single host

device. As an additional advantage, virtual applications can provide access to internal virtualized copies of

privileged system resources, allowing unprivileged users to directly execute many applications without security

exceptions or irritating Vista UAC prompts.

Unlike other virtualization systems, ZENworks virtual application technology:

 Does not require any "player" software or separate installation: ZENworks virtual applications are executable

files that run immediately on the end-user machine, just like a native executable.

 Do not incur significant processing or filesystem overhead: ZENworks application virtualization technology

allows applications to run with essentially the same performance characteristics as when executed natively.

 Does not require any operating system to be installed onto the virtual application: ZENworks virtual

applications provide all required virtualized OS functionality within the internal virtual environment.

2.2

What is a virtual application?

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Use your new ZENworks virtual application to:

 Deploy your application in a single executable that runs immediately: Improve the user download

and startup experience by packaging all application files, registry settings, runtimes, and components into a

single executable that runs immediately.

 Run Java and .NET without separate runtime installations: Your Java and/or .NET-based

application runs immediately, just like a native executable, with no separate installation steps or runtime

versioning conflicts. Execute multiple runtime versions concurrently with no conflicts.

 Improve desktop security: Execute your applications without granting administrative permissions to

end-users. Stabilize desktop images by deploying applications in sandboxed ZENworks virtual applications.

 Eliminate third-party setup dependencies: Integrate third-party components, COM/VB controls, and

content viewers such as Acrobat, Flash, and Shockwave, directly into your application.

 Eliminate Vista UAC prompts and compatibility: Deploying in a ZENworks virtual

application eliminates requirements for access to privileged system resources, relieving users of annoying

Vista UAC prompts.

 Leverage Terminal Services and Citrix investments: By isolating applications from global resource

areas, ZENworks virtual application technology allows non-compliant applications to function properly in

Terminal Server and Citrix environments.

 Deploy instantly on USB drives: Improve mobile worker productivity by placing your ZENworks virtual

application onto a USB flash-memory drive. Run your application immediately on remote PCs, with no

installation steps, administrative privileges or driver installations.

 Dramatically reduce test and support costs: At last, no more "DLL hell", "policy hell", versioning

and dependency conflicts, etc. Reduce test complexity and eliminate support requests associated with

dependency installation and inter-application resource conflicts.

2.3

ZENworks virtual application usage scenarios

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No. Unlike some other virtualization solutions, application virtualization takes place entire in user-mode. No

device drivers are installed or required.

2.4

Do ZENworks virtual applications require any device drivers?

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Unlike hardware virtualization systems such as Microsoft Virtual PC and VMware, the application virtualization

system works at the application level and virtualizes only those operating system features required for application

execution. This allows virtualized applications to operate extremely efficiently, with essentially the same

performance characteristics as native executables.

Advantages of application virtualization over hardware virtualization include:

Extremely high performance: ZENworks virtual applications execute at essentially the same speed as applications

running natively against the host hardware, with only a small additional memory footprint. On the other hand,

applications running within hardware-virtualized environments experience significant slowdowns and impose a

large memory footprint because the virtual machine includes and virtualizes an entire host operating system.

 Dramatically reduced application size: ZENworks virtual applications only require a disk footprint

proportional to the size of the virtualized application, data, and included components. As a result, ZENworks

virtual applications are typically small enough to be conveniently and quickly downloaded by end-

users. Because hardware virtualization requires inclusion of an entire host operating system image, including

many basic subsystems which will already present on the end-user device, hardware virtualization typically

requires gigabytes of storage per virtual machine.

 Ability to run dozens of virtualized applications: Because of its low-overhead characteristics, it is easily

possible to run dozens of concurrent ZENworks virtual environments per processor. Conversely, due to the

high overhead of hardware virtualization, it is generally possible only to run a very small number of hardware-

virtualized environments per processor.

 Reduced licensing costs: Because ZENworks virtual applications do not contain a host operating system, it is

not necessary to purchase separate operating system licenses to use a ZENworks virtual application. hardware

virtualization systems require a host operating system in order function, possibly imposing additional

licensing costs and restrictions.

However, hardware virtualization is appropriate in certain specialized scenarios:

 Non-Windows operating systems: ZENworks virtual applications execute only on the Windows operating

system. Hardware virtualization can execute any operating system compatible with the underlying virtualized

hardware, such as Linux.

 Kernel mode virtualization: The ZENworks application virtualization engine only virtualizes user-mode

operating system features, whereas hardware virtualization systems emulate the entire OS stack, including

kernel mode components. Applications requiring device drivers or other non-user-

mode software may require

a hardware-virtualized environment to function properly.

You should carefully evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of different virtualization approaches before

deciding on a technology to adopt for your deployment scenario.

2.5

How is application virtualization different from hardware

virtualization?

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ZENworks Application Virtualization supports the following platforms for virtual application build, snapshotting,

and execution:

 Windows XP Professional

 Windows Embedded XP

 Windows 2000 Professional

 Windows 2000 Server

 Windows Server 2003 Standard and Enterprise editions

 Windows Vista Business, Ultimate, and Enterprise editions

 Windows Server 2008

ZENworks Application Virtualization supports these operating systems running within VMware and

Microsoft hardware virtualization and hypervisor environments.

ZENworks Application Virtualization also has limited support for the Windows Preinstallation

Environment (WinPE), though certain applications depending on operating system features unavailable in WinPE

may not function properly.

ZENworks Application Virtualization creates 32-bit executables, which can be run under 32-bit mode on x64-

based platforms.

2.6

What platforms are supported?

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application virtualization is related to application streaming systems such as Microsoft's SoftGrid in that

virtualization takes place at the application level. However, unlike application streaming systems, application

virtualization:

 Does not require any specialized streaming servers: Streaming systems use specialized streaming servers to

deliver application blocks to clients. ZENworks virtual applications are designed to stream to clients using

standard SMB-based file shares, allowing them to be hosted on any Windows host, DFS share, or Linux

Samba server.

 Does not require any client installation or device drivers: Streaming systems require that specialized client

software be installed on each end-user device before clients can access hosted applications. Some streaming

systems further require installation of client device drivers before use. Because the ZENworks application

virtualization engine kernel is embedded and implemented entirely in user mode, ZENworks virtual

applications run immediately, with no client installation or device drivers.

 Works both offline and online: Many streaming systems require that clients be connected to the streaming

server to access applications. Because ZENworks virtual applications are standalone executables, virtual

applications can be copied to laptops, USB keys, and other mobile devices for execution both on and off the

network.

 Does not require any additional server systems: Most streaming solutions require that Active Directory or

other infrastructure services be deployed as a prerequisite to application deployment. Because ZENworks

virtual applications are standalone executables, no separate server systems need be purchased or deployed.

Note that ZENworks virtual applications can optionally be configured to take advantage of Active Directory

and SMS infrastructure, if these are present.

application virtualization can be used in concert with application streaming systems: Virtualized applications can

themselves be streamed, combining the network transport optimizations of the streaming solution with the

isolation, compatibility, and offline execution capabilities of application virtualization. This approach also allows

enterprises with a heterogeneous IT infrastructure to enjoy the advantages of application virtualization, even in

their non-Active Directory environments.

2.7

How is application virtualization different from application

streaming?

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ZENworks Application Virtualization and the application virtualization engine supports most major Windows

desktop applications. In addition, the ZENworks Application Virtualization Compatibility Lab routinely tests and

validates popular applications for deployment using ZENworks Application Virtualization.

However, certain applications, by their nature, are unsuitable for virtualization using ZENworks Application

Virtualization's user

-mode virtualization technology. These include application features which contain or directly

depend on interaction with specialized kernel-mode device drivers or other kernel-mode extensions; operating

system components and extensions; anti-virus applications; and kernel event filtering, monitoring, and intrusion

detection applications.

ZENworks Application Virtualization applications are compatible with most major anti-virus, runtime, and

security packages currently available.

2.8

What applications can be virtualized using ZENworks

Application Virtualization?

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The ZENworks Application Virtualization authoring environment can be run on any of the supported client

platforms.

The ZENworks Application Virtualization authoring environment requires a minimum of 512MB of memory. 1GB

of memory is recommended for optimal performance. More memory may be required to process unusually large

virtual application projects.

A minimum screen resolution of 1024x768 is required to use the ZENworks Application Virtualization graphical

user interface.

2.9

System requirements

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3

Getting Started

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This section describes the system requirements for installing and running Novell ZENworks Application

Virtualization, gives an overview of the ZENworks Application Virtualization user interface, and walks you through

the basic steps of creating a virtual application.

3.1

Getting Started

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Novell ZENworks Application Virtualization requires the Windows XP, 2000 or higher operating system.

The ZENworks Application Virtualization graphical interface assumes a screen resolution of at least 800×600,

although a screen resolution of at least 1024×768 is highly recommended.

3.2

System requirements

Novell ZENworks Application Virtualization

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Novell ZENworks Application Virtualization 7.1 Administration Guide

Novell ZENworks Application Virtualization 7.1 Administration Guide

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